Should weed be legalised? What about heroin? Set aside any previously held opinions and prepare a far-out trip! In the final episode of 'Who Does It Best?' producer Wojciech is taking us across the landscape of Europe’s drug policies. From 90s Portugal to the coffee shops of Amsterdam to a little pit stop in Uruguay(!), we’re taking a deep dive into which policies are the sanest and safest on offer.

MASSIVE THANKS: We want to give a HUGE shoutout to everyone who made this series possible. Our generous crowdfunders hit our goal within two months, making it possible for us to do extensive reporting fully independently. Our hearts are beyond full. Thank you.

BOOST THE SHOW: If you liked the series and want to help us spread the good word, we’ve prepared some social media posts that you can download and share. Here they are! We’d be eternally grateful if you influenced your followers with our snappy graphics ✨

DON’T QUIT WHILE YOU’RE AHEAD: If you’re feeling inspired to support The Europeans’ ongoing work, please go to patreon.com/europeanspodcast. You can drop us a few euros or dollars or francs or crowns or whatever the heck ya got.

Additional resources for this episode:

• Research on Portugal’s decriminalization success story
• Amsterdam’s drop-in center AMOC Zuid

Written, reported and produced by: Wojciech Oleksiak

Editors: Jasmin Baoumy

Editorial support: Dominic Kraemer, Katz Laszlo, Katy Lee, Morgan Childs

Sound design: Jesse Lou Lawson

Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak

Music and SFX: Jim Barne, Epidemic, FreeSound.org

Artwork: RTiiiKA

Thanks to everyone who sat down with Wojciech to share their expertise, including Tom Decorte, Katrin Schiffer, Annika Apfel, Malu Salazar, Cedric Chervet, Adam Nowotarski, Peter Sarosi, Ferry, the De Barones crew, Reinoud van Delft, Gośka, Yahya, Leonie, AMOC clients Bouhz and Damian, Breda’s coffeeshop owners. Special thanks go to Leonie, Tom, Łukasz and Michał.

Stay safe out there!

YouTube | Bluesky | Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | Mastodon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | hello@europeanspodcast.com

00:00:43 Intro: Rockstar life and drugs 00:09:55 Act I: Soft drugs, tolerance and the myth of legal weed 00:23:15 Act II: You gotta regulate that thing! 00:30:43 Act III: Total decriminalization 00:49:05 Act IV: Legalise everything, regulate everything

We’re taking a momentary break from “Who Does It Best?” to take a trip to Serbia with producer Wojciech Oleksiak. Wojciech was on the ground in Novi Sad last weekend to report from the massive demonstration marking the one-year anniversary of the tragic accident at the city’s railway station.

And if you’re not following this story, you should be. Much of what’s happening in Serbia is a heartening example of how peaceful demonstrations can really move the needle, even in places where the political situation looks bleak. And Serbia’s leadership has been following a playbook that is increasingly common across Europe and the rest of the world. Even if you don’t live under an illiberal democracy…you might want to get familiar with how they take shape.

If you’re interested to hear more on this evolving story, check out our episode from earlier this year called “Is real change coming to Serbia?”

We’ll be back with the final episode of “Who Does It Best?” on Friday. (Wojciech has had a busy week.)

This podcast was brought to you in cooperation with Euranet Plus, the leading radio network for EU news. But it’s contributions from listeners that truly make it all possible—we could not continue to make the show without you! If you like what we do, you can chip in to help us cover our production costs at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/europeanspodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (in many different currencies), or you can gift a donation to a superfan. We'd also love it if you could tell two friends about this podcast. We think two feels like a reasonable number.

Reported, produced, mixed, and mastered by Wojciech Oleksiak. Editorial support by Dominic Kraemer and Morgan Childs. Special thanks go to Filip Djordjević and Mila Dragnić.

Childcare policy affects all of us at some point in our lives. And depending on where you live, your country’s parental leave and early-education policies can determine everything from what you do for a living to how you divide household labor to how you plan for your future. Reporters Maja Stepančič and Uršula Zaletelj took a whirlwind trip across Europe to find out which country does childcare policy best. And even if you don’t have kids of your own, we’re pretty sure you’ll enjoy taking the journey with them.

Maja and Uršula are the hosts of the Slovenian-language parenting podcast Šala za starše, or ‘A Joke for Parents’. You can find their show here.

This series was fully funded by you, our listeners. Our generous crowdfunders hit our goal within two months, making it possible for us to do extensive reporting fully independently. We couldn’t be more grateful. If you’re feeling inspired to support The Europeans’ ongoing work, please go to patreon.com/europeanspodcast.

Want to support us in another way? Please share this episode with one or two friends who you think might find it interesting. It’s the most effective way for us to reach people!

Additional resources for this episode:

• The Day Iceland Stood Still
• UNICEF report on parental leave and family-friendly policies
• Zoe Williams’ Guardian piece “‘These are not numbers – they are people’: what ex-communist Slovenia can teach the world about child poverty”

00:00:43 Introducing Uršula Zaletelj and Maja Stepančič

00:05:52 How childcare made this episode about childcare possible

00:13:55 How Icelandic women went on strike and brought the entire country to a halt

00:17:25 A Swedish toddler trouble

00:21:52 Is it best to raise your child in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower?

00:28:26 The longest parental leave in Europe

00:34:54 Italy: La Famiglia Mulino Bianco

00:42:39 No place like home!

Written, reported and produced by: Uršula Zaletelj and Maja Stepančič

Additional production: Katz Laszlo

Editors: Jasmin Baoumy, Katz Laszlo

Editorial support: Dominic Kraemer, Katy Lee, Morgan Childs

Sound design: Jesse Lou Lawson

Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak

Music and SFX: Jim Barne, Epidemic, FreeSound.org

Artwork: RTiiiKA

With thanks to everyone that talked to us for this episode: Mathieu Lefèvre, Ana Marija Sikirić Simčic, Martina Pezer, Petra Klasić, Ivona Ivić Lovrenović, Mojca Dominikovič, Katarina Hovfing, Katy Lee, Stephanie Scherer, Dana Thompson, Richard Thompson, Madalina Ion, Corina Parvu, Alenka Švab, Katarina Bogataj, Carlotta Giordano, Giulia Milan, Letizia Mencarini, Maria Rosaria Gualano and Anne Wiebke Peters.

And a final, heartfelt thanks to the wonderful professionals who looked after Uršula and Maja’s children so they could work on this episode ❤️

YouTube | Bluesky | Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | Mastodon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | hello@europeanspodcast.com